Meanings
present singular third person accelerates · participle present accelerating · participle past accelerated · past accelerated
- transitiveTo quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of.
She had to accelerate her work pace to meet the deadline.
4 more examples
to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc.
The company plans to accelerate its growth with new marketing strategies.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.
2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American ScientistMany AI safety researchers who have spoken out about their unease describe AI companies deprioritising safety across the board while simultaneously accelerating capabilities of models to sell to customers.
2026 September 22, Madhumita Murgia, Lucy Fisher, “AI staff complain of mental toll over fears of threat to society”, in Financial Times - transitivenatural sciencesTo cause a change of velocity.
- transitiveeducationTo enable a student to finish a course of study in less than normal time.
- intransitiveTo become faster; to begin to move more quickly.
The car began to accelerate as soon as the light turned green.
- archaicnot comparableAccelerated; quickened; hastened; hurried.
... a general knowledg of the definition of motion, and of the distinction of natural and violent, even and accelerate, and the like, sufficing.
1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Dialogue 2
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
- Proto-Italic*ad
- Proto-Italic*ad-
- Latinad-
- Proto-Indo-European*kel-
- Latinceler
- Latincelerō
- Latinaccelerō
- Latinaccelerātu
- Latinaccelerō
- Latinaccelerātiō
- Englishaccelerationbf.
- Englishaccelerate
First attested in the 1520s. Either from Latin accelerātus, perfect passive participle of accelerō (“to accelerate, hasten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), formed from ad + celerō (“to hasten”), which is from celer (“quick”) (see celerity), or back-formation from acceleration.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَرَّعَ, اِسْتَعْجَلَ
- سَرَّعَ (sarraʕa)to cause to move faster
- اِسْتَعْجَلَ (istaʕjala)to hasten
- أَسْرَعَ (ʔasraʕa)to become faster
Bulgarian ускоря́вам, ускоря́вам
- ускоря́вам (uskorjávam)to cause to move faster
- ускоря́вам (uskorjávam)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- ускоря́вам се (uskorjávam se)to become faster
Catalan accelerar
- accelerarto cause to move faster
Chinese Mandarin 加速, 加速
- 加速 (jiāsù)to cause to move faster
- 加速 (jiāsù)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- 變快 /变快 (biànkuài)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- 加速 (jiāsù)to hasten
- 變快 /变快 (biànkuài)to hasten
- 變快 /变快 (biànkuài)to become faster
Czech zrychlovat, zrychlit
- zrychlovatto cause to move faster
- zrychlitto cause to move faster
- urychlitto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- zrychlovat seto become faster
- zrychlit seto become faster
Danish accelerere
- accelerereto cause to move faster
Dutch versnellen, versnellen
- versnellento cause to move faster
- versnellento quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- bespoedigento hasten
- haastento hasten
- versnellento become faster
- sneller gaanto become faster
Esperanto rapidigi, akceli
- rapidigito cause to move faster
- akcelito cause to move faster
- akcelito quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- akcelito hasten
- akceliĝito become faster
Finnish kiihdyttää, nopeuttaa
- kiihdyttääto cause to move faster
- nopeuttaato cause to move faster
- kiihdyttääto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- nopeuttaato hasten
- nopeutuato become faster
- kiihtyäto become faster
French accélérer, accélérer
- accélérerto cause to move faster
- accélérerto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- accélérerto hasten
- accélérerto become faster
German beschleunigen, beschleunigen
- beschleunigento cause to move faster
- beschleunigento quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- eilento hasten
- sich beeilento hasten
- schneller werdento become faster
- beschleunigento become faster
Hebrew האיץ, זירז
- האיץ (heíts)to cause to move faster
- זירז (zeréz)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- זירז (zeréz)to hasten
- האיץ (heíts)to become faster
Hungarian gyorsít, gyorsul
- gyorsítto cause to move faster
- gyorsulto become faster
Indonesian mempercepat, mempercepatkan
- mempercepatto cause to move faster
- mempercepatkanto cause to move faster
- mengakselerasikanto cause to move faster
Irish luathaigh
- luathaighto cause to move faster
Italian accelerare, accelerare
- accelerareto cause to move faster
- accelerareto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- affrettareto hasten
- accelerareto become faster
Japanese 加速する, 促進する
- 加速する (kasoku suru)to cause to move faster
- 促進する (sokushin suru)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- 加速するto hasten
- 加速する (kasoku suru)to become faster
Latin accelerō
- accelerōto cause to move faster
Norwegian akselerere, påskynde
- akselerereto cause to move faster
- påskyndeto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- påskyndeto hasten
- sette opp fartento become faster
Persian شتافتن
- شتافتن (šetâftan)to cause to move faster
Polish przyspieszać, przyspieszyć
- przyspieszaćto cause to move faster
- przyspieszyćto cause to move faster
- przyspieszaćto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- przyspieszyćto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- pospieszaćto hasten
- pospieszyćto hasten
- przyspieszaćto become faster
- przyspieszyćto become faster
Portuguese acelerar, acelerar
- acelerarto cause to move faster
- acelerarto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- apressarto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- acelerarto hasten
- apressarto hasten
- acelerarto become faster
Romanian accelera
- accelerato cause to move faster
Russian ускоря́ть, уско́рить
- ускоря́ть (uskorjátʹ)to cause to move faster
- уско́рить (uskóritʹ)to cause to move faster
- ускоря́ться (uskorjátʹsja)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- уско́риться (uskóritʹsja)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- ускоря́ть (uskorjátʹ)to hasten
- уско́рить (uskóritʹ)to hasten
- ускоря́ться (uskorjátʹsja)to become faster
- уско́риться (uskóritʹsja)to become faster
Slovak zrýchľovať, zrýchliť
- zrýchľovaťto cause to move faster
- zrýchliťto cause to move faster
Spanish acelerar, embalar
- acelerarto cause to move faster
- embalarto cause to move faster
- accelerarto cause to move faster
- acelerarto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- acelerarto hasten
- apresurarto hasten
- acelerarseto become faster
- embalarseto become faster
Swedish accelerera, ge mer gas
- accelererato cause to move faster
- ge mer gasto cause to move faster
- gasato cause to move faster
- ökato cause to move faster
- accelererato quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- påskyndato hasten
- ökato hasten
Tagalog ibilis, darasigin
- ibilisto cause to move faster
- darasiginto cause to move faster
Thai เร่ง
- เร่ง (reng)to cause to move faster
Turkish hızlandırmak, hızlanmak
- hızlandırmakto cause to move faster
- hızlanmakto become faster
- ivmelenmekto become faster
- ivmekto become faster
Ukrainian приско́рювати impf приско́рити, приско́рюватися
- приско́рювати impf приско́рити (pryskórjuvaty)to cause to move faster
- приско́рюватися (pryskórjuvatysja)to quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
Vietnamese tăng tốc
- tăng tốcto cause to move faster
Welsh cyflymu, cyflymu
- cyflymuto cause to move faster
- cyflymuto quicken natural or ordinary progression or process
- cyflymuto hasten
- cyflymuto become faster
Cite this entry
accelerate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/accelerate
“accelerate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/accelerate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “accelerate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/accelerate.
Source: accelerate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.